1. Field
This application relates generally to wireless communication and more specifically, but not exclusively, to addressing schemes for wireless communication.
2. Introduction
A communication network may employ an addressing scheme to enable nodes in the network to determine the source and destination of a given message. For example, when a message is sent from one node to another, nodes in the network may determine where to route the message based on an explicit or implicit destination address associated with the message. In addition, a node that receives the message may determine which node sent the message based on an explicit or implicit source address associated with the message.
Some networks (e.g., circuit switched networks) may not use explicit addressing. For example, a circuit switched link may be point-to-point whereby the transfer of data on a given network link (sometimes referred to as a channel) implies the source node and the destination node. Such channels may be dynamically assigned to individual users. For example, in a cellular network, a base station may assign a channel to a mobile station when establishing a call.
In contrast, in a packet switched network a unique network address may be assigned to each network node. For example, each node (e.g., computer) coupled to the Internet may be assigned a unique Internet Protocol (“IP”) address. Thus, a data packet routed through the Internet may include a source IP address of the source node and a destination IP address of the destination node.
Network addresses may be assigned by a single network coordinator or by a several connected network coordinators. When a node joins a network, it may first communicate with the network coordinator(s) to get a network address. One job of the network coordinator(s) may be to guarantee that the network address assignment is unique across the network.
Network addresses may be generated through negotiation. In such a case, a network coordinator may not be used. Instead, when a new node is installed on a network, the node may propose its own network address. For example, the node may broadcast its address to all nodes in the network. If another node happens to use the same address, the nodes may negotiate to resolve the conflict so that the network address used by a given node is unique in the network.
A node also may use a manufacturer specified device identifier (“ID”) for addressing purposes. Such a device ID may be guaranteed to be unique. In practice, however, a device ID may be quite long (e.g., 8 bytes). Consequently, the use of a device ID for addressing purposes may result in large overhead, particularly when sending relatively small packets (e.g., on the order of 8 bytes or less).